Expert in Art-Based Community Resiliency Development and Senior Arts Therapist
Ronen Berger is a senior arts and nature therapist, lecturer and supervisor. He initiated, created and managed the Nature Therapy program at Tel Aviv University (2009–2015) and the Drama Therapy master’s programs for Arabs and Jews at Ono Academic College, Israel (2015–2022). He has established various Nature Therapy and Arts Therapy programs for the Israeli Ministries of Education, Health and Defense, as well as large-scale programs for national associations such as the Community Stress Prevention Center, the breast cancer support service One in Nine and disability N.G.O. Access Israel. He also trains and supervises school principals and educational staff, helping them to create and develop holistic and relevant pedagogy.
His Ph.D. and research conceptualized and developed the Nature Therapy method, followed by many practical theories and methods for intervention, assessment and supervision in Nature Therapy and Arts Therapy. He has published numerous articles and authored or co-authored nine books, including protocol books "The Healing Forest" and "Protocols for Coping and Hope" that have been translated into five languages and are used internationally.
Dr. Berger is a world-renowned expert in the fields of Nature Therapy, Arts Therapy and Play Therapy, as well as community resiliency and post-disaster community and group art-based treatments. His work is creative, integrative and dynamic, incorporating both theory and practice. It integrates elements from his background as an ecologist studying and protecting wolves in the north of Israel, as well as in dance, theater and performance.
He currently manages the Play Therapy program at Ono Academic College, the resiliency and post- trauma programs for children and youth at the Community Stress Prevention Center, and the art-based community treatment program for families dealing with loss for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. He is also a visiting professor at Thessaloniki and Ioannina universities in Greece and Prague University in the Czech Republic.
Born in June 1972, he has two children and spends his life between Israel and Greece. He enjoys being in nature, dancing, playing and doing arts, wind surfing and cooking.
